Being a responsible gal, I had the obligatory LSP service (little silver Pajero) before taking to the roads. I took it to a different workshop and had the oil changed. My LSP was going like a dream. I reached Kruger and noticed a pale blueish white smoke coming from the exhaust every now and then. It got progressively worse and by Saturday morning I was leaving game sightings in a cloud of quite blue/white smoke! I always checked the rearview mirror to see no animal had fallen over from the fumes while I was still close by. It was now my little smoking Pajero!
Cough, splutter, choke!!
I began to get nervous, recalling horror stories of seized engines, burning cars on the roadside -- eeeeek!
The OIL light came on and I made my way to the Mopani Camp Petrol Station and put in two pints of High Mileage oil which I keep in my car. (For you guys that don't drive older cars which have travelled extensively, there is such an oil).
By now I had sms'd the guy who sold me the Paj a few years back, the mechanic who serviced it and sent out a general sms asking any of my 4x4 owner friends if they knew a reputable mechanic in Phalaborwa, the closest town. Within seconds the guy who sold me the car was on the phone (he is an ex-Paris/Dakar driver who raced Pajero's like mine) and I explained the syptoms and he gave me a couple of options. The simplest was the replacement oil was probably not thick enough for my vehicle. The mechanic sms'd minutes later and said he would call shortly. My friend had come up with an excellent contact in Phalaborwa, a fellow 4x4 driver. Panic started to ease - there was some hope I would stop increasing my literal and figurative carbon footprint in Kruger!
The mechanic phoned and had the same simple diagnosis of replacement oil and the Phalaborwa guy was going to help me find the right person to do the job. When I got to the weathered, wily, experienced real mechanic this morning, it turns out, my top-oil in Mopani was the answer - it was the right oil for the right job and already the smoke was lessening. Naturally I've bought more pints for the rest of the adventure. (Tip from the real mechanic: only use Shell Helix)
The puzzling question I asked Mr Jones, "What does he think the toilet paper is doing in the tree, miles away from anywhere". My next question is, does everyone who travels to Kruger have only white toilet paper and tissues with them. People having a pee-break on the edge of a clearing or viewing point without ablution facilities, ALWAYS litter with white toilet, tissue paper. Is decorated and coloured paper for home use only? Actually I find it absolutely disgusting people leave the litter behind (most probably fooling themselves it's bio-degradable -- well yea! not by the time the next visitors come along!!)
I'm going into Botswana and probably won't do another blogpost until I reach Kasane in the north.
*
A blonde came into the garage and asked for a seven-hundred-ten.
A puzzled customer asked, "What is a seven-hundred-ten?"
She replied, "You know, the little piece in the middle of the engine. I lost it and need a new one. It had always been there."
The mechanic gave the blonde a piece of paper and a pen and asked her to draw what the piece looked like. She drew a circle and in the middle of it wrote 710.
He then took her over to another car which had the hood up and asked, "Is there a 710 on this car?"
She pointed and said, "Of course, it's right there." (OIL upside down)
5 comments:
Oh hi Mr. jones and you, nice in the car pic! good grief about the oil and well done finding the solution, that is the kind of thing that gives me a panic. Car trouble.
ick to the t.p. litterers. what is wrong with people? it is the same here even though everyone knows the rule: pack it out.
have fun and be safe (while always making sure you have enough cold beer!)
xoxo
haha love the joke about the 710!!
safe travels and look forward to a post from Botswana~
xo
Hi there! Been reading your post via email, and haven't had time to pop in here and say hello.. glad you are heading this way, look forward to meeting you!! :)
Oh haha! 710, now i see the joke. was it there before? hmmm...
hi karen!
Hi Janet, Lori, Amanda and Karen! And little silver no-more smoking Pajero! I had a (blue) one too, for ages, and loved it deeply. (After he did not pass his last street-proof exam we sold him to a man in Estonia whose father still happily drives him)
Isn`t it good to know there are always some knowing men around who will soothe us with deep voices and sell us the right oil? Don`t panick, Lori, find such a man! And it helps of course, to have a beer supply in the car, good advice!
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